The RoundHouse | 5/19/2023 10:32:00 AM
By Paul Suellentrop
On May 17, 2021, Wichita State softball players walked out of the locker room at Wilkins Stadium and saw two pitching machines in the circle.
Coaches set one to throw 69 mph and inside to right-handed hitters and the other at 54 mph to simulate a changeup from Texas A&M junior Makinzy Herzog.
The setup produced a miserable time for hitters four days before the biggest games of the season.
"The first day we were like 'This is impossible – how am I supposed to get my barrel to the ball when it's coming 70 mph at my hands,'" said outfielder
Addison Barnard, then a freshman.
"They hated it, and I think they hated me," associate head coach
Elizabeth Economon said. "It was the hardest thing they'd done all year."
Four days later, the Shockers opened NCAA regional play with a 9-7 win over Texas A&M in Norman, Okla. They dented Herzog for three hits and four runs in 1 1/3 innings. On the next day, they defeated the Aggies 9-6, totaling 22 hits, three home runs and four doubles in the two games.
"Going into that regional, we knew exactly what we were going to get," Barnard said. "We were ready, and we hit really well."
That preparation, delivered with equal amounts care, honesty, and constructive criticism, is one of the reasons why the Shockers are playing again in late May.
Economon
Wichita State (43-10) opens NCAA regional play vs. Nebraska (34-20) at 6 p.m. Friday (ESPNU) in Stillwater, Okla. The Shockers, ranked as high as No. 21 in the national polls, make their third consecutive NCAA appearance and their fifth since 2016.
When coach
Kristi Bredbenner came to Wichita State in 2012, she knew she could build the program with offense. She could recruit hitters, coach them up and turn a struggling program into a place that attracted pitchers.
"It's easier to help a hitter than it is to find pitching," she said. "Pitching is at a premium. If you're a pitcher, you don't want to go to a school that doesn't hit well."
That approach turned the Shockers into a regular in NCAA play and atop the American Athletic Conference. They are known as one of the nation's best hitting teams, even in a season such as this one when the pitching and defense are also excellent.
"Softball is 90 percent mental, so you've got to try to work that aspect of it as much as possible," Bredbenner said. "We're going to take what you do with your swing and we're going to try to make it the best version, whether you need to use your legs a little bit more, learn to go oppo a little bit more, sit change. Our hope is the preparation throughout the week gives you the confidence on the weekend."
- Wichita State enters regional play sixth nationally with a .330 batting average and a .555 slugging percentage. They are No. 17 with an average of 1.26 home runs a game (67 total) and No. 44 with a total of 74 doubles.
- Over the past three seasons, the Shockers own 291 home runs, third most in the nation behind Oklahoma (410) and Miami (Ohio) (293).
- Wichita State led the conference in home runs, totals bases and slugging percentage each season since 2018.
- In the Shocker record book, Bredbenner's teams entered the season holding the top six spots for batting average and slugging percentage and the top five for on-base percentage, home runs and runs. The list of individual leaders are filled with her hitters, from Cacy Williams and Brittany Fortner to Madison Perrigan and Mackenzie Wright to current stars such as Barnard and Sydney McKinney.
Wichita State created an offensive powerhouse with recruiting, a question-first teaching style, preparation, positive reinforcement, and hours in the batting cages and watching video. Framing all that time and work is a reminder from Economon that it's better to be late than early.
"They're willing to put in extra work with us because they want us to be the absolute best we can be," center fielder
Lauren Lucas said. "These coaches do a really good job of grabbing girls with a lot of potential and helping them reach their maximum."
Often, that process starts in the new batting cages next to Wilkins Stadium. On Wednesday, the coaches and managers set up pitching machines on tables to help simulate drop balls. The Shockers watched video of opposing pitchers while sitting next to one of the cages in the shade of a storage shed.
Coaches ask the Shockers many questions. "How did that feel?" "There's a runner on first – do you usually do well with that pitch?" "Where were your hands?"
"You have to answer," first baseman
Zoe Jones said. "It's another way they learn your style of play. I'm a visual learner. Answering those questions really helps you and the coaches know how you learn as a player."
Economon starts the questioning in the fall with the newcomers so she can adapt to their learning style.
"I'm trying to figure out their brain works," she said. "If I can get them to explain it to me, then I'll understand how they're processing it. If I need to change the language I use because that doesn't make sense to them, I'll find out."
The coaches use questions to help hitters understand their own swing.
"Sometimes, what we feel isn't always what we're doing," third baseman
Krystin Nelson said.
That is the start of the hitting relationship at Wichita State.
Coaches learn how to teach individuals and which ones can take a joke, which ones can take tough coaching and which ones require a softer touch. The Shockers spend time with each other off the field. The families of the coaches are constant presences, with their young children running in the outfield after games and playing catch with the players.
"They create a family culture," Lucas said. "We just love the family aspect of this team. Some of our transfers who have come from different cultures will say the same. That gives people a comfort level with them that if (coaches) are barking at them, it comes from a place of love and not from a place of anger."
As a freshman in 2021, Lucas played in 13 games on a team loaded with seniors. She saw the path to playing time and worked like a starter. The coaches saw the same path.
"It would be a Sunday day game and we would play at noon, so everybody would have to be at the field at 9 (a.m.), and I would ask (Economon) to come in at 8 with me, and she would," Lucas said. "It's really easy to say 'I have all these other things. I don't need to help somebody who doesn't play,' but she did. She never turned me down."
That investment leads to Lucas hitting .387 as a sophomore and .398 this season, earning all-conference and third team NFCA All-Central Region honors both seasons.
"They're going to tell you like it is and not sugarcoat anything," Lucas said. "They're going to be 'Hey, your swing looks bad today. Let's tweak this.' It makes a huge difference when you have somebody you have enough rapport with to be honest. They create such a great relationship with each of us that their brutal honesty doesn't offend us. It helps us."
Nelson started the season on a 0-for-19 stretch. In early March, coaches decided to ride with her strong defense and let her offense catch up. With regular at-bats, she turned it around with a 6-for-6 stretch and is hitting .264 – .300 in 16 conference games – entering regional play.
"All of us hitters have a really close relationship with Coach E," Nelson said. "She makes it very easy to ask her questions and talk to her about anything softball. She's always checking in on us – if we're sick, she's going to text us and ask how we're doing. Always open and honest about any questions we have."
Jones missed seven games with a hand injury before returning for a late April series against East Carolina. In her second game back, she hit a sacrifice fly and struck out twice before coming up in the sixth inning. With the count 1-1, Bredbenner called her over for a chat down the third-base line.
On her next swing, Jones doubled to drive in two runs in a 7-1 victory. Bredbenner saw a hitter swinging too aggressively. She suggested moving up a bit in the batters box.
"She said 'Hey, if you're going to swing at that pitch, you need to scoot up in the box,'" Jones said. "She could see it in my body language that I was a little bit too amped from just getting back."
Jones is a senior and a veteran of big at-bats in the Big 12 while playing at Texas Tech, at Wichita State over two seasons and in NCAA regional play. Bredbenner knew she could take advice in the middle of an at-bat and Jones trusted that the information is helpful.
"They know how to talk to us in a way that makes the best sense to us," Jones said. "Some people are more visual. Some people are more analytical. Some people just want to go out there and play."
Almost all of Economon's hitting sessions include the words "you're early."
Those words deal with the physical part of a swing telling a hitter she is swinging weakly and not using her legs and hips to generate power. They also work with the fear of failure. It takes patience, experience, and confidence to recognize a pitch and wait on the ball to travel deep enough toward the catcher before turning a potential strike into a base hit.
"They're so worried about being late, that they would rather be early," Economon said. "It's a dangerous way to hit, because it makes you more susceptible to swinging out of the zone and swinging at the off-speed, if you're early."
Early hitters use their hands too much and too soon. Patient, confident hitters follow the proper sequence starting from ground up and back to front, using the entire body to produce power.
"If you go out of order, you lose your ability to adjust to a pitch," Economon said. "If they can stay calm and still and composed, they will have a better ability to use your eyes to make the right decision. If you are on time or late, you have watched the pitch travel further than normal. Most of them are making their decision when it's hard to tell if it's a strike."
The Shockers enter regional play in a bit of a slump after scoring four runs in the past three games, two of them losses. The regional, as it did in 2021, gives them a chance to show off their preparation and practice habits to a national audience.
Paul Suellentrop writes about Wichita State athletics for university Strategic Communications. Story suggestion? Contact him at paul.suellentrop@wichita.edu.
